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Prattville, Alabama: Free Outdoor Showing for Family Entertainment

by Open Air Cinema on 11. Mar, 2010 in Outdoor Movie Events

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Still from 'Planet 51'

On Friday, March 26, the City of Prattville will present a free showing ofPlanet 51 on a 30-foot inflatable movie screen at Cooters Pond Park for the entire family to enjoy.

The film is an animated adventure comedy and features the voices of Dwayne Johnson, Jessica Biel, Justin Long, Gary Oldman, and John Cleese.

Captain Charles “Chuck” Baker (Johnson) lands on Planet 51 and to his surprise finds that it is inhabited by little green people who are happily living in a white picket fence world, and whose only fear is that it will be overrun by alien invaders … like Chuck! Baker must rely on his robot companion, Rover, and his new friend Lem in order to find a way back home before it’s too late.

So, bring your lawn chairs, blankets, and picnic baskets and prepare to blast off into space! The movie begins at dark and Ria’s Pizzaria will be onsite selling $5 large pizzas. No alcoholic beverages are allowed.

This is the second year that movie under the stars will be held at Cooters Pond Park.

“We have had great success with our free movie series in that location,” said City of Prattville Special Events Director Kellie Cook. “It is a great, open area and the grounds make a natural theatre seating effect.”

Melissa Parker

Yerevan, Armenia: Youth Protest the Demolition of Open-Air Cinema

by Open Air Cinema on 11. Mar, 2010 in Outdoor Movie Events

A group protesting plans to tear down Yerevan’s only open-air cinema has collected through Facebook social network – a breakthrough in social activism for Armenia as other parts of the world have rallied causes via internet long before.

At the beginning of March the Armenian government decided to approve a proposal made by the management of Moscow Cinema Ltd to alienate the territory currently occupied by its outdoor theater (18 Abovyan Street, central Yerevan) in favor of the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin – for the purpose of building a new church. The St. Paul and Peter (Poghos-Petros) Church that used to stand there until the 1930s was demolished during the Soviet regime.

The decision raised a clamor both among public and architects. Some interested youngsters sent a special letter to Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan, and Catholicos of All Armenians Garegin II, and they are still waiting for their replies.

“We are against not the Armenian Apostolic Church, but against the idea of constructing churches at the expense of the cultural values,” Sarhat Petrosyan, 28, co-founder of the group «Save Cinema Moscow Open-Air hall» told ArmeniaNow, expressing their protest against the decision.

Karine Ionesyan

Shelford, Victoria, Australia: Homegrown Film Festival to Show Outdoor Movies in Country

by Open Air Cinema on 10. Mar, 2010 in Outdoor Movie Events

Lights, camera, action: Geordie Taylor and Pascal Mercay prepare for the inaugural Warrambeen Film Festival, where they will appear in their own film, We of the Walls, as two Scottish brothers

We of the Walls was completed in just five days, despite set-backs, which included having just 24 hours to recast one role and flash floods delaying filming.

“Mum, of course, catered for everyone so I owe her big,” Geordie says.

His parents are big backers of the local area and Geordie says they have supported the festival every step of the way, even offering their heritage-listed bluestone property for use as the festival site.

Instead of sheep, the preserved shearing shed will play host to a flock of film buffs, while the natural surroundings make for the perfect outdoor cinema.

“The ampitheatre is basically a beautiful undulating hill that looks down to the homestead,” Geordie says.

“Hopefully we’ll get a bit of rain so we have green grass to sit on.”

As a way of showing support to the film community, the festival will offer prizes to film makers.

The festival’s main prize is Roy’s Film, (named after the family’s rooster), and encourages locals to submit a film under 30-minutes long.

“We want it to re-tell or to be based on a local story,” Geordie says.

“We’re trying to re-mine those great stories you hear down the pub or by the camp fire.”

Not only will the winner’s film be screened on the day, but they will also be given $8000 to create a film for next year’s festival.

“After the main day’s events, everyone will go to the main stage where a giant inflatable screen will blow up and we’ll screen the top 10 film entries,” Geordie says.

The judges, who will represent a “cross-section of society” won’t be over-analysing production values, he says. Instead, they will reward the most enjoyable story.

The Warrambeen Film Festival will also support the region, with a competition for local school kids and fundraisers for community groups.

“We’ve got the Rokewood Football Club running the bar and the local kinder will run a bouncing castle,” Geordie says.

The creative duo are expecting an audience of anywhere up to 2000 people.

After working on the festival for six months without payment, Geordie and Pascal would love to see profits from their first year. However, the money generated from the festival will be re-invested into next year’s event.

“But you can’t put a price on community, can you?” Geordie says.

Laura Wakely

Beijing, China: The ‘Maple Leaf’ Outdoor Cinema First to Show Movies in 3-D

by Open Air Cinema on 10. Mar, 2010 in Outdoor Movie Events

Hidden among quiet woods of maple trees and poplars boldly illuminated with neon road signs is the Maple Leaf, an outdoor theater that somewhat belies its bucolic name and setting. For this is not the sort of place to find open-air performances of A Midsummer Night’s Dream but rather eardrum-rattling screenings of the latest Hollywood blockbuster: yes, it’s a drive-in cinema and is now the first of its kind to provide 3-D movies in China, according to general manager Gu Haiqiong.

We found Gu in braggish form when we went to the Maple to find out more. The US exporters of the screens were surprised at his operation, according to Gu, as “we had a successful outdoor 3-D set-up in Beijing when there isn’t even one back in the US… our 3-D screen is bigger than regular drive-in screens with an aspect ratio of 16:9 and all four of our screens are arc-shaped anyway, meaning the audience gets the best view wherever they’re parked.”

Come wind, rain and virus

The Maple is Beijing’s only all-night long cinema; in fact, the only reason they stop playing movies when the sun comes up is because you can’t watch them properly in daylight. But if they could figure out a solution to remain open constantly, they probably would do because Gu says “though the weather [here] is brutal and changes all the time, the Maple remains opens even in the worst conditions; as long as people are driving in, nothing stops us staying open.”

Owner Wang Qishun is perhaps most proud of his cinema’s stalwart approach to business hours during the 2003 SARS crisis. “99.99 percent of public business places were shut down at the time but the Maple was standing quietly here and greeting audience still. Having a safe open-air environment made us the 0.01 percent still open to entertain the people,” he told Lifestyle, recalling how staff wore masks to sell tickets, such was their passion for cinema. This act of defiance apparently boosted the Maple’s reputation with the authorities. “The necessity of the existence of places like us in Beijing was acknowledged by the government who gave us their support afterwards,” Wang said. Shortly after the cinema became a member of the New Film Association, granting them access to the latest hot tickets. Their 3-D screen is currently showing Avatar (no surprise here) and kung fu flick True Legend with Alice in Wonderland debuting on April 26.

Wei Na

Prattville, Alabama: Free Outdoor Showing for Family Entertainment

Yerevan, Armenia: Youth Protest the Demolition of Open-Air Cinema

Shelford, Victoria, Australia: Homegrown Film Festival to Show Outdoor Movies in Country

Beijing, China: The ‘Maple Leaf’ Outdoor Cinema First to Show Movies in 3-D

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